


touch

by Crawlingthroughashes



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-22
Updated: 2015-06-22
Packaged: 2018-04-05 15:47:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4185627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crawlingthroughashes/pseuds/Crawlingthroughashes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Contrary to popular belief, Bart doesn't especially like touching people. In the future, the more you kept to yourself, the less chance you had of angering the wrong person and finding yourself at the receiving end of a knife or a gun, or worse yet, a plasma cannon.</p><p>  It's not that he likes touching people. He just likes touching<i> Jaime</i>. Whether it's curling his fingers around Jaime's wrist to get his attention, or slinging an arm over his shoulder, the feeling is the same. The brilliant, warm sensation of holding a sparkler from the wrong end, that's what makes Bart want to keep touching Jaime.</p>
            </blockquote>





	touch

Bart's learned a lot of things since coming to the past. Here, people don't restrict the number of times they touch each other. It's ingrained in their nature to ruffle each other's hair, or pat each other on the shoulder after a successful mission. The past is made up of handshakes and high-fives, hugs and head pats, absentminded touches without any real meaning behind them.

That's not something that occurred often in the future. 

In the future, the more you kept to yourself, the less chance you had of angering the wrong person and finding yourself at the receiving end of a knife or a gun, or worse yet, a plasma cannon. People didn't make thoughtless physical contact with each other, because you didn't want to run the risk of offending anyone. Bart can only recall fleeting touches from his parents, but they weren't permanent parts of his life. They were there, and their loving touches were there, and then they weren't. They were gone. Aside from scant hugs and kisses from his parents, Bart didn't really have any contact with other people. Maybe that was why he appeared touch-starved now. 

It was a façade, all of it. The hyperactive, energetic persona was fabricated, yet it fit him snugly, like an old pair of shoes. Impulse didn't have any comprehension of boundaries or personal space. Impulse was always flitting about, his hands wandering, seemingly with a mind of their own. Impulse was a part of the past. But Bart Allen wasn't. 

Contact between people in the future was rare, but not nonexistent. Desperate for a lovers touch, he's seen the way people scramble to remove clothing, how they longed to be held reverently, _lovingly_ , even though it was never love that Bart saw. It wasn't that Bart went out of his way to watch people get their nightly fix, just that there were few places to get warm and keep safe, and they were often inhabited by a number of people all crowded together. But regardless, Bart never saw love in the future. He saw strangers frenetically kissing and touching, even though their hands never seemed able to move past the phantom limbs of old lovers. 

If Bart wants to make his act of a tourist believable, he has to completely devote himself to the part. And it so happens that he's good at acting. Before long, people begin to comment on how 'handsy' he is. "Geez Bart, don't you ever keep your hands to yourself?" or "Neptune's beard! Do you speedsters not understand personal bubbles?" He forces himself to maintain the cheeky smile that has become his most overused mask. And yet, contrary to popular belief, Bart doesn't especially like touching people. No, he only enjoys touching _Jaime_. 

The first time he made contact with Jaime, it was the older boy that initiated it. It started with a firm hand fisting the fabric of Bart's shirt, before pulling him away from Gar and Tim. Jaime had been all frown-lines and the embodiment of teenage angst, yet there was nothing scary about him. _You're not scared,_ Bart had told himself resolutely. He wasn't scared. Even if his heart was pounding so hard, he feared it would leave permanent damage to his insides, bruising his ribcage from the inside. He was scared, but only at first. After spending a certain amount of time with Jaime, Bart decided that what he feared was Blue Beetle, not Jaime Reyes. (He wasn't yet ready to admit that you couldn't have one without the other.) 

After a few hang outs and missions together, touching became a regular thing. Bart forced himself to touch Jaime, to prove that nothing bad would come out of it. Prodding Jaime's side, or grabbing his calloused hand and not facing repercussion only served to prove that he didn't have to fear him. Bart touched Jaime out of necessity. At first, anyways. 

Now, after the Reach threat had ended, Bart didn't particularly feel the need to cease touching Jaime. Mainly because he really, _really_ liked touching him. 

Jaime's brown skin was smooth and warm, and solid beneath Bart's fingertips. The planes of his chest were hard, and he had an athletic build accompanied by... _Muscles._ Like, really nice muscles. Not that Bart was looking. 

He'd never openly admit it, but Jaime made him feel safe and secure. When he was curled against Jaime's side—"don't be so moded, hermano. I'm cold, okay?"—or tucked against his chest—"I forgot a jacket again, yeah, yeah, last time, I promise"— he felt _protected_. Jaime had a kind disposition, and even though he pretended to find Bart's lack of personal space aggravating, he could tell the Hispanic secretly enjoyed the touches too, if his small, secret smiles when he thought no one was looking were anything to go by, that is. 

Bart originally touched Jaime because he needed to, but now he touches him because he wants to. Even if it's something small, just curling his fingers around Jaime's wrist, or running a hand through that dark, spiked hair—"just wanted to see if it's as greasy as it looks!"—he really likes touching him. He could repeat that to himself a thousand times, that he really likes touching Jaime, and it'll never grow old, except by now, it kind of has. Because you don't _just_ like touching someone. Bart knows that's not the half of it. He likes touching Jaime, but he also really just likes Jaime. He likes his voice, and his hands, and his smile, and how he talks to the scarab when he thinks no one else is around (it was scary at first, but now it's just terribly endearing.) He likes the feeling of being with Jaime, how when their fingers brush accidentally, a brilliant pulse of warmth flares through his chest, like when you hold a sparkler from the wrong end. It burns, but it's a bearable kind of pain. 

So, Bart really likes touching Jaime. He'll settle for platonic touches. High-fives, pats on the back, headlocks. He'll also accept slightly more intimate touches, like when he has food on his face and Jaime totally 'moms' him and wipes it off, or when Jaime hugs him goodbye and they linger just a bit longer than what is socially acceptable. 

Bart likes touching Jaime. But more than that, he likes when Jaime touches him.

**Author's Note:**

> I keep switching from past to present tense and mixing them up and it's so annoying but I was in the mood to write something short so...


End file.
